Kentucky Fried Garden is my journal of vegetable gardening in humid western Kentucky USDA zone 7a. Knowing where my food comes from and whether it comes from non-genetically modified seed is important to me. I try to use open pollinated varieties in an effort to continue maintaining the diversity of food plants available to humans. Trying to extend the harvest by experimenting with hardier varieties and overwintering plants will be one of my projects.

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September 26, 2016

Harvest Monday, 9/26/16

I've had a surprise harvest. Having left the loofa vines in the ground since they were extra lush and having taken over the whole row of trellises and starting their meander over the fence, they have finally decided to blossom and produce.

The angled luffas on the left are longer and thicker so my guess are these are the Extra Long and the four on the right are the Chinese Okra variety. Loofahs belong to the same family as cucumbers, squashes, and watermelon. And like cucumbers if they don't get enough water they can get a slightly bitter flavor.

They're easy to prepare, I just peel off the skin and then saute in olive oil with a little garlic and salt and pepper, and maybe a dash of nuoc mam.

I'm also growing a smooth variety called Summer Cross but the fruit it's forming are irregular and dying on the vine, perhaps the plants are more susceptible to squash and harlequin bugs.

You can see the dead bean vines on this trellis that the loofahs have taken over.

There are loofas everywhere, the little yellow blobs on the ground are spent loofah flowers.

They are very good at climbing fences and seem fairly drought resistant, although without regular watering you risk a bitter fruit now and then.

The vines are massive so it's no surprise the fruit grow so quickly.

Please join us at Harvest Monday where new and experienced gardeners share their delightful vegetables.

I actually did have loofah on my list of things to grow, but not for eating. I didn't even realize that you could eat them until I read that on your blog. Now I'm wondering if you plan on drying any for use as a loofah sponge?

Hi Eight Gate,They do end up taking quite a bit of space, but they are fun to grow even though it sometimes feels like forever before they start blossoming. But the fruits do grow quickly once they set. I've read where it suggests they're daylight sensitive, so they might actually flower better in your neck of the woods.

Hi David,They definitely seem to require a long growing season. It's been much cooler at night and they're blossoming like crazy which makes me wonder if temperatures affect them. Either way, they'r nice to have when everything else in the garden is waning.

Hi Mike,I had a chance to try them when my dad brought some by on a visit from northern Virginia and thought they were delicious. This year is the best they've ever done for me. I should probably start watering them though, a single bitter fruit can be off-putting.

Hi Kathy,I do think nuoc mam goes very well with summer squash stir-fries. My patty pans did nothing this year because of the vine borers. But yours look like they have done spectacularly. And your winter squashes are especially beautiful.

Hi Margaret,We do have a couple more months before the frost hits, so there should be plenty of time to get a bunch to ripen. This is our first bumper harvest of luffas, so it would actually be worthwhile to try to get some sponges out of them.

Hi K,Both of them get fibrous when mature so can be used as sponges but the angled ones are used more often for eating. Supposedly because the angled ones are less likely to get bitter, but I don't know if that's really true.

The size of the sponge very much depends on variety, I don't think the ones we're growing get as big as those back scrubbers on a stick.